After years of waiting, it seems like Hollow Knight: Silksong fans will have to wait a bit longer after developer Team Cherry announced the game would miss its projected first half of 2023 release window. While it's disheartening to hear fans will have to wait longer before they can play it, Team Cherry assured players that the game is shaping up quite nicely and the small team just needs more time to make it the best it can be. Following this announcement, fans expecting to see Hollow Knight: Silksong at the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase should temper their expectations.
Although last summer's Xbox and Bethesda Showcase featured Silksong among the games shown with the promise that everything shown during the presentation would release within a year, the delay outside of this window makes it unlikely to return for this year's Xbox Games Showcase. Other titles shown last year that have failed to meet the one-year release window, include the likes of STALKER 2, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, Replaced, and the highly-anticipated Starfield. While Starfield will receive its own dedicated presentation following Xbox's initial showcase, it's unclear what other titles the company will show.
The Xbox Games Showcase Puts Hollow Knight: Silksong Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Given its presence at last year's Xbox and Bethesda Showcase, it would make a lot of sense for Team Cherry to showcase Silksong there again this year. Gameplay of Silksong has been scarce since its announcement in 2019, but what has been shown has been enough to boost hype for the game every time something new is revealed. However, debuting new gameplay footage at the Xbox Games Showcase in June could put Team Cherry in a tough spot after its recent delay announcement.
The tweet from PR and marketing head for Team Cherry Mathew Griffin ends by stating that Team Cherry would show more gameplay of Silksong when the game was closer to release. With the game now pushed outside of the first half of 2023, it's unlikely Silksong would be released any earlier than Holiday 2023, and it's more likely to release in 2024. If Team Cherry were to show gameplay footage from the game at the Xbox Games Showcase, it would contradict its earlier statement since release still seems like a ways off.
It would also be an odd choice to announce a delay, only to then surprise fans at the showcase with a release date in late summer or early fall. If the delay was truly only going to be that short, there wouldn't have been a need for any update on the game's progress. A bait-and-switch release like this would end up sending mixed messaging about Hollow Knight: Silksong that Team Cherry and Xbox likely want to avoid. Instead, it's probable that Team Cherry will stick to its promise and keep the game under wraps over the next year until it's finally ready to release.
While the announcement of the delay might have taken a bit of the wind out of the game's sails, keeping relatively quiet about Silksong until it's closer to a finished state will help the game in the long run. Teasing players with an unrealistic release timeline runs the risk of isolating the fan base and impacting the game's reception when it finally does release. The presence of Silksong will be missed at the Xbox Games Showcase, but if it means the end result is a better game, then fans should be able to give the developers the time they need and enjoy the other games Xbox brings to its June 11 showcase.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
